


We Won't Ever Say Goodbye

by LetsJustWrite



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aromantic Clint Barton, Aromantic Natasha Romanov, Aromantic Pepper Potts, Gen, Introspection, Natasha Romanov needs more female friends, POV Natasha Romanov, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 04:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15987497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetsJustWrite/pseuds/LetsJustWrite
Summary: Sometimes people don't have soulmates. They have more important things to do.





	We Won't Ever Say Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crimson_Square](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson_Square/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Crimson_Square](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crimson_Square/pseuds/Crimson_Square) in the [GenAndAroPrompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/GenAndAroPrompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Fandom of your choice.
> 
> That soulmate AU where people stop aging until they meet their soulmate(s? if you figure out a way to maybe work in something that's nicer to poly folks, that'd be nice). With a main character who's aro, non-amorous, and perfectly happy with immortality. Maybe they're getting into adventures over the centuries, maybe they're a historian chronicling history; they're definitely kind of puzzled at everyone who's looking forward to growing old and dying, though, because there's so much life to experience.
> 
> [What should not happen: Them meeting anybody who makes them age. Just... no.]

The reason Natasha trusted Clint when he brought her in from the cold, more than any of the other reasons she found to trust him, was because when she told him how old she was he didn’t look at her pityingly or understandingly. He didn’t say, “You’ll find your soulmate one day,” or “Well, it’s better for spies not to have soulmates, right?”. He just nodded and said, “Cool. Can you teach me that move you did on the wall?”

Clint was always like that, always wanting to learn, even if other people couldn’t see that. Natasha appreciated it, like she appreciated his bad jokes and how he stumbled into things when he was tired, because that was all Clint and he was her best friend.

She discovered that he didn’t have a soulmate either until over a year after she was brought in.

“I never wanted one, though,” he said, putting down the weights he’d been lifting while she spotted for him. “Too many things to get to learn in this world, you know?”

Natasha nodded because she could understand even if she couldn’t relate. For her learning had always been about being one step ahead of the enemy, one step ahead of pain, but she knew the despair of not knowing.

“People always say I’m young, I’ll find someone, but I don’t really want to.”

Natasha understood better when she met Stark, who had started aging the moment he had laid eyes on Pepper (even though _she_ hadn’t). After his kidnapping his thirst for knowledge and discovery became even more frantic, knowing that he could die any day.

When Natasha grew close enough to Pepper to call her Pepper and not Potts she asked her about her own lack of a soulmate. She was a few years older than Clint and wasn’t soulmates with the man who was soulmates with her. It was an anomaly.

(Anomalies are dangerous, said the voice in Natasha’s head. Shut up, she told it and asked.)

“I don’t know,” Pepper said, pouring them both drinks. “I thought about it, of course, we all do, but I don’t think I really care. I could be happy with a soulmate but I’m happy without one. There’s so much to do that I don’t exactly relish the thought of aging, in any case.”

Natasha knew by then that she didn’t want a soulmate for herself, didn’t worry so much that it was an effect of the Red Room, and she told Pepper that. She didn’t mention that Clint didn’t want one either because it was his business, but she made sure they met up and talked. She thought they could be friends. Besides, having your friends be friends was always smart.


End file.
